I have often sat through long presentations in meetings or during conferences/events. So far, I haven’t had to make one myself that’s as long, but a few things always strike me when I’m listening to a presentation– especially those that make sitting through one an uphill task.
While some may say this is not related to marketing, I beg to differ. A senior marketer once told me: how you do anything is how you do everything. So if you can’t convince a room full of people with a compelling story, I can see why it will be tough to convince the hundreds of thousands of consumers out there.
My point is simple– a presentation with complex charts, graphs, images and videos may look impressive, but if delivered poorly, all the hard work, I’m afraid, is down the drain. I do not aim to make this note a to-do or not-to-do list of things, but let me highlight a few points anyway.
These, in my view, completely ruin the user experience of the listeners and simply put, are horrible mistakes to make.
Reading the slides – and this tops the list
How many times have you seen a speaker practically showing his/her back to the audience for a good 30 to 40 minutes, reading the slide, word by word? As an audience, surely, at that point you thought, “well, I can read that myself too”.
And it gets worse … if the slides are text-heavy. There is so much text in the slides, they make the audience squint, or worse, simply switch off. (Or wait, this perhaps is the only instance where you will appreciate someone reading that slide.) When it comes to presentations, there's something called too much information.
Jokes, they better be good.
Now humour, I understand, does not come naturally to everyone, so think through before cracking those jokes. Remember that awkward moment when you cracked a wife/kid joke on stage and no one laughed? That’s because they’re done to death. I’d say when in doubt leave it out.
Thumbs up to videos, but …
Short videos work really well in engaging audiences. I’m a fan, but only until that generic brand video comes up and I’m thinking, “wait a minute, what’s the context?” I know it’s tough not to push your brand through at the drop of a hat, but exercising some restraint is a good idea.
Standard openers
I get it. Setting the context is a must, but look at these examples and you will know what I mean. “How many of us wake up and look for our mobile the first thing?”, “mobile penetration is at an all-time high”, “social media is the next big thing”, “digital marketing is here to stay”.
None of them are wrong, but what’s the real hook for the audience here? Who doesn’t know that?
Quite a few marketers in the region are outstanding public speakers, I must say. Some not so much, but whether public speaking is your forte or not, it’s helpful to remember storytelling is a skill – a much-needed one in marketing and advertising today.